In the production of cups or cans in the can industry, it is common to use a double action mechanical press equipped with cupping tooling, for example, of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,020,670, 4,248,076 and 4,416,140. Such cupping presses commonly operate within a range of 150 to 200 strokes per minute (spm) and have a plurality of cup-forming tooling components in order to produce a batch of cups with each stroke of the press.
It has been found desirable to operate such a cupping press at a higher speed, for example, within a range of 220 to 250 spm, in order to meet the increase in production requirements in the can industry. However, such a substantial increase in the speed of the cupping press significantly increases the dynamic loading on the press, and especially the compressive and tensile loads on the outer ram of the double action press. This increase in dynamic loading on the press can result in the press exceeding its rated loading and failure of the press components.
It is known in the tool and die industry to construct punch and die tooling for blanking or cutting a plurality of parts from a sheet metal workpiece with each stroke of the press and by positioning each punch at a slightly different elevation corresponding to the thickness of the sheet metal workpiece. As a result, the blanking of the parts is performed in sequence, but the holding of the workpiece is performed by one plate without any sequence.